Media to Movements is changing how teams and churches around the world use media strategies to find seekers and “persons of peace” so spiritual multiplication results. Check out these stories from teams around the world! Live, mentored courses are available twice a year. The next sessions begin soon.
EMDC webinar on what Deditos offers your project, Wednesday, 19 of October
Children fascinated and filled with hope as they come into contact with God’s Word.
Everything was geared for adults
Children need to know God from the time they are small, but it can be hard to share Bible stories with them in a way that is captivating AND true to Scripture.
In 2012 I took a media team to a country in central Africa to get stories about Bible translation projects in the country. We stayed in a guesthouse at an educational institution, and nearby was a school for the students’ children.
“Put away your cameras!” a man shouted to one of the photographers traveling with me. “We don’t want you showing our children as poor and hungry on the internet.”
We had obtained advanced permission to photograph on the campus, but we took this parent’s concerns seriously. The cameras went away, and the matter was discussed with the parent and the educational institution president. We came to a mutual understanding of our purpose and received permission once more to take photos.
This parent expressed a widely held view in many parts of Africa: Western nonprofit organizations want to show people across Africa in the worst light in order to raise money. People feel exploited.Read More »Simplicity Gone Astray
“I know how you can tell this story,” I said to a colleague with a smile. “Someone did something that made a positive change among some group of people in some country, and it’s so amazing everyone needs to know about it!”
We were talking about how to tell stories from “sensitive” or high-risk contexts, and I said this jokingly as we considered what could and could not be said in stories. We had a good laugh and proceeded to find a solution.
While I said this in jest, this is a basic formula for telling impact stories. Of course, usually when applied, it includes real information—not just “something” or “someone.” Yet, what do you do if putting these key details into your story threatens the project you want to write about or risks the lives of your subjects? Should these stories be left untold?